Employment law update: Hong Kong and Singapore

New changes under the Employment (Amendment) (No.2) Ordinance 2018

Cynthia Chung, Partner and Head of Corporate Commercial, recently authored an article for the autumn edition of HR magazine. The article covers the current position under the Employment Ordinance, the new changes under the Employment (Amendment) (No.2) Ordinance 2018, and the potential effect of the new changes on both employers and employees in Hong Kong.

Read the full article here.

Proposed amendments to the Singapore Employment Act

Jenny Tsin and Vivien Yui, WongPartnership LLP

On 18 January 2018, the Ministry of Manpower announced that it was conducting a month-long public consultation exercise on the Employment Act, Singapore's main labour legislation. Being a review six years from the last, this public feedback exercise is sought to ensure that the Act remains relevant, and is targeted at affording enhanced coverage to employees. The three areas of review have been identified:

(i)  Whether core provisions for public holiday and sick leave entitlements, timely payment of salary and allowable deductions, and redress for wrongful dismissal should be extended to protect professionals, managers and executives earning more than S$4,500 per month; 

(ii)  Whether salary thresholds for vulnerable employees to qualify for entitlements, such as annual leave, hours of work, overtime pay and rest day ought to be revised; and

(iii)  How dispute resolution services for statutory and contractual salary-related disputes (currently heard by the Employment Claims Tribunal) and wrongful dismissal claims (currently heard by the Ministry of Manpower) can be amalgamated and/or streamlined.

On 2 October 2018, the Employment (Amendment) Bill was tabled in Parliament for the first reading. It is expected to pass through second and third readings, and come into effect by April 2019.